| Challenge | Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) | Platform as a Service (PaaS) | Software as a Service (SaaS) |
| Provisioning | Need to adapt in-house processes to 3rdparty providers tools.Once provisioned resources can/should be managed by internal tools. | Need to adapt in-house applications/packages to deploy on a 3rd party managed platform | Need to manage entitlement of users within the 3rd party application |
| Monitoring | Need performance / SLA monitoring of raw server and storage metrics. Retained responsibility for software break/fix monitoring | Need platform application availability and performance monitoring.Increased focus on end to end application integration. | Need application availability and performance monitoring.Significant focus on end to end application integration. |
| DR/BCP | Need to provision in multiple cloud containers to mitigate local DC failures.Consider multiple cloud providers to mitigate provider failures. | Need to provision in multiple cloud containers to mitigate local DC failures.Consider multiple cloud providers to mitigate provider failures. | Likely tie in to Software vendor. Vendor selection should challenge underlying DR/BCP. Need mechanism for seamless user cut over in the event of DR. |
| Integration | Infrastructure levels should be maintained in line with organisation standards (OS versions / patching etc) | Loss of control on platform versions will lead to potential challenges if the version lag behind application dependencies. | Loss of control on software versions will lead to potential challenges if the version lag behind application dependencies. |
| Authentication | Systems should align with in house systems. | Role and Claim based authentication considerations. | Role and Claim based authentication considerations. |
| Security / Risk | Infrastructure should be within Virtual network controlled by company. Internal IDS/Monitoring etc can be reused | Unless a private platform is beyond control as is any data. Leads to significant emphasis on encryption of data and authentication. | Software is beyond control as is any data. Leads to significant emphasis on encryption of data and authentication. |
| Networks | Infrastructure should be within Virtual network controlled by company. Vendor may provide host connector products. | Application integration will rely upon predominantly web service based network communications or ’connector’ products. | Application integration will rely upon predominantly web service based network communications. Any other requirements would need to be agreed with provider. |
| Data Integration | No challenges as systems may appear as ‘local’ | If public platform data will need to be exchanged in common formats such as XML web services. | Data will need to be exchanged in common formats such as XML web services. |